Friday, June 14, 2013

Incorporating Collage Elements

I had this idea in my head when I was making a rough sketch for this piece: the newspaper should be of real newspaper.

The problem was execution. How to do a collage within my watercolor composition?

When in doubt, ask around. Fortunately (for me), watercolor magician Jen Betton was online at the time. I messaged her the question and got TONS of suggestions. What about gel medium? Yes, but too glossy. Matte medium? Yes, but the plastic coat will prevent me from painting watercolor on top afterwards. How about thinning down acrylic and do that on top? Yes, but...

And that conversation went on. She sent me links of sample collages that looked great. She showed me what she had done with photo transfer. (It was awesome!)

Thanks, M.! I ended up using cut out of yellow pages (no reason to not use newspaper, actually. I just didn't have any in the house at the time.) I glued it on in layers using Elmer's Craft Bond Photo Sticks (works REALLY well!), and I painted a little watercolor over it when it dried, so the cut-outs blended in better with the rest of the work. :)